Business news briefs

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah teams set

for competition

Teams from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University will be among 42 teams vying for more than $1 million in prizes at Rice University's annual business plan competition. Teams will have 15 minutes to present their business plans to the judges, who will rank the presentations based on which company they would most likely invest in.

Hyundai signs

as 5K sponsor

Hyundai Hope on Wheels, the non-profit organization of Hyundai Motor America committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer, has signed on as the title sponsor of the Salt Lake City 5K. The foot race will be held April 20 as part of the 10th Annual Salt Lake Marathon's weekend of activities.

Fat Bob's Garage

plans open house

Fat Bob's Garage, an off-road specialty auto parts dealer, will hold an open house Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at its new location at 650 N. Main in Layton. The Layton store will serve as the company's headquarters. The store will be Fat Bob's largest location for the installation of lift-kits, shocks and other off-road gear.

Court protects SEC

in Madoff scandal

A 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York says investors in Bernard Madoff's epic fraud cannot hold the Securities and Exchange Commission responsible for failing to expose his Ponzi scheme. The court said the SEC's "regrettable inaction" is shielded by rules protecting government employees from lawsuits when they carry out a discretionary function or duty.

Research firm:

PC sales plunge

Global shipments of PCs fell 14 percent in the first three months this year, the sharpest plunge since research firm IDC started tracking the industry in 1994. The firm said the appeal of tablets and smartphones is pulling money away from PCs, but it also blames Microsoft's latest version of Windows, which has a new look and forces users to learn new ways to control their machines.

Big bank received

Fed minutes early

Employees at JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs Group, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were among those who received market-sensitive information from the Federal Reserve a day early. The Fed said minutes from the March 19-20 policy meeting were inadvertently emailed early to more than 100 congressional staffers, trade group officials and employees of the nation's largest banks.

U.S. sells $621M

of GM shares

The U.S. government has sold another piece of its stake in General Motors. The Treasury Department in a report to Congress said it sold $621 million worth of GM common stock last month. The report said the government has recovered about $30.4 billion of the $49.5 billion bailout it gave the automaker.